The big fights, the best fighters and the colorful characters in the world of boxing.

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Opinions and Observations: Cotto-Canelo

Miguel Cotto's best opportunity to beat Saul "Canelo"
Alvarez on Saturday was stinking out the fight. In a number of rounds that Cotto won
(ignore the ludicrous, lopsided scores from the judges), he limited action, used movement and fired quick flurries. During these moments, he was successful at
keeping Alvarez from throwing combinations and unleashing his expansive offensive arsenal. However, Cotto (and his trainer, Freddie Roach) isn't
really wired to fight technically for 12 rounds. At heart, he has always
been a boxer-puncher and his desire to stand and trade with Alvarez became more
pronounced as the fight developed. Perhaps, at 35, he didn't have the legs to
move for 36 minutes. But more likely, it's a temperament issue. Cotto has never
won by being elusive; it's not how he entered the sport and it's not how he
perceives himself as a fighter.

It takes a certain type of boxer, such as Floyd Mayweather or
Guillermo Rigondeaux, who appeared on Saturday's undercard, to stink out a
fight. He must ignore the will of the crowd and dismiss the disdain of the boxing
media. Concerns such as entertainment value are tossed out the window. The
fighter who stinks it out doesn't view himself as emanating from some type of
mythic warrior tribe. He is calculating. In the ring, clinical rationality lays
waste to emotionalism. He doesn't lace up the gloves for love or affection. Let's face it;
Miguel Cotto has never been that fighter.

Like most boxers, Cotto yearns for admiration, approval and glory in the ring. In some instances, these positive characteristics can be a burden. They reduce the available options for victory. Cotto isn't programmed to win with a negative style. He wants to dazzle fight fans with power shots and impose his will on an opponent. Unfortunately, these attributes played right into Canelo's hands.

Although Cotto fell short of victory, he performed ably. He was
active. He had success throughout the fight with jabs and left hooks. Repeatedly turning Alvarez, Cotto limited Canelo's punch output, especially early in the bout.
Yet despite all of these positives in the ring, Cotto didn't truly commit to a winning game plan. He did box intelligently at many points in the fight but seemingly just as often he decided to stand and trade with a much bigger opponent.

Ultimately, Alvarez's counterpunches were too powerful and those shots were the difference in the fight. One good Alvarez uppercut seemed to have the impact of
three Cotto left hooks. Canelo's punches were thudding, eye-catching and did more
damage. He was never bothered by Cotto's power and his size advantage
helped minimize the impact of blows received and accentuate his own offensive
forays.

In my estimation, Alvarez has now beaten three very good fighters
in Austin Trout, Erislandy Lara and Cotto. In each of those bouts, his
opponents had pronounced foot speed advantages. Nevertheless, Alvarez makes up
for these shortcomings with excellent punch placement, timing and unconventional
attacks. No one else in the sport throws a lead uppercut as often as he does.
It's a devastating punch and one that opponents cannot adequately prepare for.
In addition, his crosses, hooks and body shots consistently hit their marks even against
more athletic opponents (the preternaturally gifted Mayweather is, of course,
an exception).

It's easy to look at Alvarez and point out his
deficiencies: clumsy footwork, lack of urgency in the ring, middling ring IQ. However, his considerable strengths are too often overlooked. He has
tremendous confidence in his own abilities. He doesn't beat himself in the
ring. Canelo has a huge punch arsenal and is wonderful when countering. He's
also a sublime combination puncher.

Over time, the positive aspects of his package continue to manifest
in the ring. His intangibles are strong. Not for one moment on Saturday did he
seem intimidated by the Hall of Fame opponent in front of him or bothered by a
lack of early success. Instead, he persevered and landed enough of his power
shots to clinch the victory.

I had the fight 115-113 for Alvarez and that seemed to be a
popular score on social media. The judges saw it much wider for Alvarez, 117-111 (John McKaie), 118-110
(Burt Clements) and 119-109 (Dave Moretti). Those last two tallies failed to
reflect the competitiveness of the fight. Let me stop downplaying it; those
scorecards were suspicious. Unfortunately, Cotto was fighting far more than just
Alvarez. Yes, "that's boxing," and contemptible scoring happens quite often, but it's
still abhorrent. In a perfect world, Moretti and Clements would be summoned to
the Nevada State Athletic Commission to explain their cards; however, let's not
kid ourselves about the realities of professional boxing. Commissions only seem
to act when they are embarrassed. Last night, the "right guy" won, so
in basketball parlance – no harm, no foul.

The fight also demonstrated that Cotto's power at middleweight
wasn't blessed with magical sorcery. He finally encountered a boxer who could withstand his best shots (in truth, many in the division could). Perhaps Cotto and Roach thought that Canelo would wilt in the later rounds after eating too many sharp left hooks, but not only
did that eventuality fail to materialize, it never came close to happening.
Throughout his career, Alvarez has displayed a very good chin. He has been
bested once by a defensive marvel who had the foresight and willingness not to
stand and trade with him.

Perhaps Gennady Golovkin's power will be too much for
Alvarez; GGG certainly would be a sizable favorite in that matchup. But let me say this: Alvarez won't be intimidated by Golovkin's reputation or his past
exploits in the ring. They have sparred with each other before and Alvarez knows
what he's up against. Golovkin may very well beat Alvarez but he'll have to
earn it.

On the undercard, Japanese junior lightweight titleholder Takashi
Miura and Mexican challenger Francisco Vargas engaged in a vicious war, one of the best fights of the year.
Vargas almost ended matters in the first round with a huge right hand that
buckled Miura's knees. After a shaky start, Miura found his way into the fight with straight left hands and punishing body shots. As the match progressed, Vargas' right eye resembled a crater. The fight featured fierce
exchanges with Miura more often getting the better of the action. In the
fourth, he sent Vargas down with a sledgehammer left cross. By the eighth, it
looked like Vargas was ready to go. However, Vargas changed the fight dynamic
early in the next round with a massive right hand that felled Miura, who beat
the count but was in terrible shape. Vargas then landed some hard follow
up shots, which forced Tony Weeks to wave off the bout.

Over the last few years, Vargas has been steadily moved by
Golden Boy Promotions. Facing an assortment of decent fighters, such as Jerry
Belmontes, Will Tomlinson and Abner Cotto (to say nothing of the corpse of Juan
Manuel Lopez), Vargas demonstrated that he had the boxing skills and power to
beat "B-level" opponents. However, Miura, who had dropped 130-lb. king
Takashi Uchiyama and defeated Billy Dib and Sergio Thompson, represented a huge
step up in class. It was classic "sink or swim" time for Vargas. And
in the middle of the bout, the deep waters were unkind. But Vargas wasn't looking to be rescued by others. After fighting hard to
stay afloat, he saved himself with the lifeboat known as his right hand.

The fight revealed all the character we need to know about
Vargas. He walked through hell to win. At various moments he teetered on the
precipice of defeat. However, despite hitting the canvas and fighting with
a damaged eye, he pulled out a resounding victory. It was a gutty
and wonderful display and I can't wait to watch it again.

Former junior featherweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux also
fought on Saturday's undercard, but "fought" might be too strong of a
word for his performance. Against an overmatched Drian Francisco, Rigondeaux
danced, feinted and occasionally punched his way to a shutout victory. Landing
fewer than ten shots per round, Rigondeaux fought with no urgency or desire
to impress. He was getting his work in and minimizing risk. The crowd booed his
effort and they should have; the fight resembled an uneventful sparring
session.

It had been an eventful few weeks for Rigondeaux. Stripped of his titles because of inactivity, he fired his manager and signed with promoter Roc Nation. Unfortunately, all of those transactions were far more interesting than his performance on Saturday.

Rigondeaux has won two gold medals, defected from Cuba, secured junior featherweight titles belts and signed a multi-million dollar contract with Roc
Nation. In short, he has had quite a life. Unlike most fighters, he seems
unimpressed with fan devotion or the usual glories associated with
professional boxing. At 35, he now fights primarily for pecuniary reward.

Rigondeaux is a unique figure in boxing. A defensive
master with power, he cares much more about the former than the latter.
He's been booted off TV networks, frozen out by promoters, been embroiled in
lawsuits and ignored by boxing fans, to say nothing of pricing himself out of
big fights. He remains overly self-satisfied in the ring and a diva outside of
it. Yet, he continues to soldier on with the formula that has led to his
present status.

For as much opprobrium and scorn that he receives, his approach has worked out just fine. Rigondeaux's
considerable skills raised him out of poverty and provided him with the
opportunity to experience the joys of living in a free society. Unfortunately for boxing enthusiasts, freedom doesn't always lead to our desired outcomes. Like all other top fighters living in a democracy, Rigondeaux has the
freedom not to fight, to have unscrupulous people on his payroll to blow off
promoters and to be difficult. But by overcoming real hardships, he has earned these rights. So I'm sure that
he's aware of the boos and his lack of popularity among boxing stakeholders, but he has made it to the promised land and thrived. In that context, the negative reactions from crowds, TV execs, promoters and writers are ephemeral. He has endured far worse.Adam Abramowitz is the head writer and founder of saturdaynightboxing.com.

He is also a member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board.@snboxing on twitter, SN Boxing on Facebook